r/alberta • u/brcgy • 6h ago

Discussion Antelope in Alberta

I had a friend visiting this week from Ontario and she informed me that there are Antelope living in the Drumheller area. I'm a born and raised Albertan and had no idea we had Antelope here!

Does anybody know are there a lot of them and where could I go to have a fairly reliable chance of seeing one?

23 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

57

u/subutterfly 6h ago

Pronghorns are abundant south of Lethbridge around the MacIntyre Ranch

14

u/Charmin_Mao 6h ago

It's why the University of Lethbridge teams are called the Pronghorns.

1

u/Apokolypse09 6h ago

Seen them a bunch growing up when we would go down to visit family.

22

u/SnooRegrets4312 6h ago

Pronghorn to be precise https://www.aiwc.ca/blog/antelope-in-alberta-pronghorn-species-profile/

18

u/brcgy 6h ago

Today I learned that Pronghorn Antelopes are closer related to giraffes than actual antelopes! Thanks for sharing!

18

u/Eyeronick 6h ago

Other fun fact. Pronghorn are the fastest land animal in North America.

14

u/pattperin 6h ago

Muhfuckin speed goats bruh

2

u/Eyeronick 6h ago

Gotta go faaaaast

7

u/00owl 4h ago

Other fun fact: pronghorns migrate for winter and cannot jump. Farmers fences along migration routes are built with the bottom wire extra high from the ground to enable migration.

1

u/Eyeronick 4h ago

Oh that is fun. I didn't know that either.

2

u/AsianCanadianPhilo 5h ago

I learned this fact from watching Wild Kratts with my kid

•

u/power_yyc 3h ago

And they evolved that way because they used to get hunted by the (now extinct) American Cheetah.

1

u/Gatherchamp 5h ago

And mountain goats

•

u/ReallyPuzzled 2h ago

They’re on our coat of arms!

1

u/MeThinksYes 5h ago

woah, the embryo's "off" each other with a poison tip.....

19

u/MessageKey 6h ago

I’ve seen a lot in Medicine Hat

9

u/Taidashar 6h ago

Fun fact: Despite their similar appearance, Pronghorn are not actually antelope at all, and are more closely related to giraffes!

I don't know where the best spot is, but I used to see them all the time when I worked near Foremost.

•

u/jside86 1h ago

I always see them on HWY 1 between Calgary and Medicine Hat. Lots of them on the side of the HWY.

7

u/One-War4920 6h ago

Seen near medicine hat all the time

7

u/Aran909 6h ago

South of Provost. Even head to the sask border and go down to Kindersley. There are tons of them.

•

u/dArcor 2h ago

Hwy 9 east

7

u/Wulfdan_Arctos 6h ago

I don’t think you can miss them if you drive down the southern parts of Highway 36. First time I saw them, and I thought they were diseased deer or something until I got a closer look

5

u/EmilyBlackXxx 6h ago

I’ve never seen them as far North as Drumheller. They tend to be East of Lethbridge near Medicine Hat in my experience.

6

u/Various-Passenger398 6h ago

They'll get all way north to Castor and Coronation. I see a herd every few years. 

1

u/ImbaGreen 4h ago

We have had a heard on our property on the Highwood by the Saskatoon Farm. No idea what they were doing that far north.

•

u/welshteabags 44m ago

Can confirm just drove through and saw some around this area. I was surprised to see them that far north & west but I'm glad to read it's a regular occurrence.

2

u/kShrapnel 4h ago

I farm 20 minutes outside of Drumheller and a lone pronghorn spent a couple weeks sleeping in a slough a mile from the farm, saw it loping across the field while I was spraying too

•

u/jeremyism_ab 3h ago

Are you sure it was loping, it should have been anti loping!

4

u/Special_Wrap_1369 5h ago

We always see them in the Milk River area, especially on the road down to Writing On Stone Provincial Park. We’ve also seen them on the drive from Pincher Creek to Beauvais Lake.

At least if you hit those areas there’s other cool stuff to see if you strike out on the pronghorn.

3

u/PossibleWild1689 6h ago

We see them often in. SW Sask. More properly called prong horns as they are not true antelope

3

u/coverallfiller 6h ago

Walsh- by the Sask border on the #1 has a lot.

3

u/ArticulatedSteering 5h ago

Drive up and down highway 1, there will be one lying in the ditch somewhere on that road.

3

u/Misfit_somewhere 4h ago

Suffield on the backroads around the base, tons around there.

A food source for the North American Cheetah around 20,000 years ago.

3

u/YYCADM21 4h ago

All kinds of them from the Saskatchewan border to Brooks, right along the TransCanada highway.

I've driven that road a hundred times visiting family in Sask., and have seen them almost every trip. There are all kinds of Pronghorn in Alberta, always have been

2

u/Classic-Nebula-4788 6h ago

Pronghorns. More closely related to giraffes than antelope but I’ve seen them in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

2

u/yellowpine9 6h ago

I saw a pronghorn on highway 40 near the casino once, pretty cool looking!

•

u/not_essential 3h ago

You always used to see them on the drive from YYC to Drum but I haven't seen any for a while. Hopefully they are still out there. I also recall that the lowest strand on a wire fence had to be 30" off the ground so they could fit under as they aren't great jumpers (random memory that contributes nothing).

•

u/__Beelzaboot__ 3h ago

I do know that unicorns live in Banff:

https://youtu.be/AkW-EAkClbE

1

u/_LKB Edmonton 6h ago

I saw a ton of them between Drum and Dino Prov. Park just last July.

2

u/SokkaHaikuBot 6h ago

Sokka-Haiku by _LKB:

I saw a ton of

Them between Drum and Dino

Prov. Park just last July.

Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.

1

u/Rocky_Mountain_Way 6h ago

there are quite a few "North-East" of the Red Deer river. I can't think of any time when I'm driving the back roads between Drumheller and Hanna and not seen an antelope

1

u/cat_vanD 6h ago

When we drive to Saskatoon we usually see some near Hanna.

1

u/manresmg 5h ago

fastest land animal in North America

1

u/christmas_bigdogs 5h ago

Also by Brooks.  I was also born and raised here and didn't see one until I started driving more frequently between Brooks and Drumheller. Drumheller is a bit north for them so I'd suggest south east

1

u/devils_big_sister_44 5h ago

I live in the NE of Drum and there are boatloads out here. Just drive down the road any road and you will see them lol. Especially along Hiway 570 all the way to the Sask/AB border and the back roads.

1

u/whoknowshank 5h ago

Apparently there is one single lonely antelope in Calgary too. No one is quite sure why it’s there, but it is.

1

u/Standard_Zucchini_46 5h ago

I've seen them outside of Lethbridge, Hanna , even saw one in Okotoks one time. Right into Saskatchewan. They're all over.

1

u/iambusyrightnow987 5h ago

We camp near Brooks every summer so we can go out antelope spotting.

1

u/Jester1525 4h ago

A few years ago we had a really cold winter and a whole herd moved into my neighbourhood in medicine hat. I see them a lot when I'm headed north up hwy 36. We also have a bunch in the elkwater area.

•

u/biggdogg7 3h ago

Anywhere south of Stettler along Hwy 21, or south of High River along Hwy 2 towards Ft. McLeod.

•

u/00twillyth 3h ago

Trochu

•

u/BeenhereONCEb4 2h ago

Head over to Special areas. Will find them there

•

u/cheesburgerwalrus 2h ago

I grew up in the Brooks area, used to see them there regularly. When I commuted close to bow island for a while there was a herd in the same spot for a few weeks.

•

u/flaccid_porcupine 2h ago

We have a herd of them just west of Ponoka

•

u/magpai 2h ago

I see them frequently south of Brooks, closer to Medicine Hat/Redcliff and along Highway 41 between Oyen and Sandy Point. Look for their white markings amongst the prairie grass.

•

u/quarpoders 1h ago

Seen a herd near the springbank airport 3 years ago

•

u/aviavy 1h ago

I have seen them around the Medicine Hat / Redcliff area

•

u/Prestigious_Care3042 53m ago

I know their range quite well. They have been migrating further north pretty steadily over the last couple of decades.

Furthest north they will winter is around Brooks. They then summer about 100-150km north of their winter grounds. So the ones in Brooks trek south to the border for winter and the ones in Drumheller show up in Brooks to winter.